6 October 2005 -- Croatian police today arrested a local journalist indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal after he failed to appear in The Hague and enter a plea to contempt-of-court charges.

Josip Jovic was editor in chief of the daily "Slobodna Dalmacija" in 2000, when the newspaper published the name of a protected witness who had testified at the tribunal, contravening the tribunal's regulations.

A second Croatian journalist also faces contempt of court charges in The Hague for revealing the identity of the witness, who testified in the case against Bosnian Croat General Tihomir Blaskic for war crimes in central Bosnia's Lasva Valley between 1992 and 1994. Marijan Krizic, editor in chief of the "Hrvatsko slovo" weekly, pleaded not guilty before the tribunal on 3 October.

Blaskic was released from prison in early August 2004 after the tribunal reduced his sentence.

Croatia opened European Union membership talks on 4 October. But the EU said it could suspend the talks at any time if Croatia does not fully cooperate with the tribunal.